This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Formation and closure of the neural tube during embryogenesis and development is a precisely controlled process requiring alternations in cell shape, migration, and differientation. Neural tube defects resulting from deviations in this process are found in approximately 1 in 1000 human births. We have identified, expressed, and purified a region of the Shroom protein which plays an essential role in this process. By determining its structure, we will about the fold of this domain (it has no known structural homologs), how it interacts with its binding partners, and most importantly, how these interactions are translated into biological function.